This Mask of Mine
by Brookpelt
Summary: -AU- It's springtime in a more medieval Andra Empire, and the rule of the darkness has long disappeared... now what? Rated T for language and violence. BTW UPDATES IRREGULARLY AND IS ON HIATUS
1. Intro: A short history of 42

There was once a time, a time long ago, yet a time so terrible, which was and still is known as the dark empire.

The dark empire was the time when demons ruled the earth, and monsters appeared everywhere. From the city of Deva to the town of Aria, only the strong or the one traveling with them could move from town to town and survive. Then one day, 6 strong warriors, the Warriors of Justice, joined forces and conquered the dark empire. The Warriors of Justice composed of a mysterious yet strong sword wielder, whose power seemed to be as strong as the powers of the dark kings combined, a kind and rather young paladin, who managed to shine though the darkness with his light, a swift archer, who was as cunning and dangerous as a nine-tailed fox, a somewhat cold-hearted but really, really strong mage, which I find interesting as all mages these days are killed off, yet this one could be so respected, a hybrid martial-arts master whose skill rivaled Chuck Norris, though I forgot what species he was, and a sword wielding angel, who once triumphed against the king of the Heavenly realm, Temir . Thanks to these 6 warriors, the dark empire was completely wiped out, saved for one thing… The prince of darkness.

The prince of darkness is believed to be the last remaining fragment of the banished empire of darkness, being the son of THE deceased king of the darkness, Ladon himself. The prince supposedly died 10 years ago, yet there were many reported sightings of him numerous times over the past 6 years… They say that he has the power to bring back the empire of darkness… bring back all the monsters… bring back all the needless bloodshed…

I hope that doesn't happen.

It is said that when the dark empire returns, charging into the city and turning peace into calamity, the only thing that can stop it are the 6 warriors, and their descendants… However, nobody know the location of the Warriors of Justice, or if they are even alive. Not to mention that warriors never have children. It's too much of an inconvenience… my dad's a HUNTER and even he doesn't have enough time to spend some with me… though it's probably due to the fact he works so hard…

If the dark empire ever returns…

We are so damn screwed.


	2. Chapter 1

My name is Ruira Aoi, from the 3rd district of the city if Deva. Despite living in the poorest district, my life's pretty fine. This is probably due to the fact that my dad's a hunter, and people in this city really like to eat, so business is good as usual.

Sometimes I have to run errands, which usually have to do with delivering meat. Today, though, I have to pick up a new spear for my dad from the city's blacksmith, since my dad's old spear is almost broken.

I approach the blacksmith. He's a tall man with black hair and brown eyes and a scar cutting across his face. Despite his rough looks, he is actually really friendly.

"Hello there, Ruira. What brings you here today?"

"I'm supposed to pick up a spear for my dad."

"Hunting, right?"

"Yup."

He leaves for a few minutes, leaving me to look at what else he has made over the past week. There are a bunch of beautifully crafted swords leaning against a wall, while some awesome looking daggers gleam brightly in the harsh sunlight. I wonder why there are so many weapons here… maybe the army needed new weapons.

The blacksmith comes back, carrying rather sharp spear and a bulky package.

"Thanks, Mr. Blacksmith." I say, accepting the two objects and handing over 2000 gold, the cost of the sword . "What's the package for?"

"Go and see for yourself." He states after looking around. "And make it quick… I don't want anyone else to see it…"

I push away the packaging, and discovered… a stick. Okay, not really a wooden stick, but it was like nothing I ever saw before. At one end of the stick… there was a spherical skeleton with a red sphere FLOATING inside the skeleton with two pairs of wings sticking out of the sides of the sketeton, and a long, pointy, spike-like object attached to the top of the skeleton with two small wings, one sticking out of each side of the spike. There were also two curved poles, also attached to the skeleton, that spiraled around the stick and joined together and ended near the center. Oh yeah, and the entire thing, save for the red sphere, was GOLDEN.

"Oh my gosh…" I could barely contain my surprise. "What is it, and how much more do I have to pay you?"

"Consider it a little gift from me." The blacksmith said with a little grin. "And to answer your question, it's a staff. It's a weapon that was used by mages, shamans, and druids to help harness their magical power and even make them stronger."

"How… how did you know…"

"Observation's a powerful thing, Ruira." I could barely believe it. Out of all of the people, I would have never guessed that the city's blacksmith would guess… my… my… curse… "Don't worry, you secret's safe with me. I've never been fond of the executions, and I… I wouldn't want you to kill you."

I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding "Thanks for everything, Mr. Blacksmith." I say to him, re-packaging my newly-acquired staff.

"You're welcome, Miss Ruira Aoi. And you can call me Lu." Lu… What an interesting name… I felt that I have heard that name before…

"Well then, thank you, Mr. Lu…"

"Lu's just fine." He looks at the sky for a few minutes, probably judging the time. "You should be leaving soon, the army's emissary is supposed to arrive soon… and I believe you wouldn't want to meet him…"

"Then I guess I'll leave right now. Bye Mr. Lu!" I rearrange the two weapons and head home.

"Au revoir, Miss Ruira." I try to contain my laugh… his attempt at a French accent is simply… hilarious.

The walk home was rather uneventful, with everyone already at their home for their meals. I decided to take the other way, though the forest.

After trudging past trees, jumping on logs, and avoiding wild predators for around 10 minutes, I finally stop at a small shack in a field destitute of trees. I pushed open the heavy yet rather worn wooden door to find a rather nice surprise…

Or so I first thought.


	3. Chapter 2

Magic, in this kingdom, is forbidden. It is said that people that are able to use magic, or mages, are able to do so because they were part of the dark empire, which granted the mages supernatural powers. To make sure that the kingdom is safe from the darkness, a law has been passed that all mages shall be brought to the dungeon, and kept there until the next Sunday, where every city will have a public execution starting at 9am. Me? Well, I never attend the executions... and I sure had hoped that I never will visit the dungeons…

…that is, until now…

I rub the necklace my father have given me as soon as I came home this afternoon, the one he gave me before he was taken away. Imprisoned for being a mage, on this Saturday afternoon…

I have to rescue him.

I almost step out the door, when I remembered my staff. I can't bring it with me… but it can't hurt to try casting with it. I unwrap it and hold it securely before I whisper the 2 words.

"Maschera Fantasma"

I feel the familiar wave of mana that I always feel when I cast the spell, yet this time it was stronger. I guess the staff worked its magic (*puts on sunglasses* YEAHHHHHH) ... I put down the staff and head towards the prison, being careful to not bump into anyone. The spell made me invisible, but the invisibility only lasts until I make physical contact with a biotic object, like a tree or a guard. Yet time is nigh, so I start running faster than before. Sunday is just waiting around the corner… and by then it's too late…

I keep on running as fast as I can until I reach the outside of the castle, where all the prisoners-to-be are taken. I see no guards on duty; this should be easy…

I check the auras of the residents to find if my dad's among them. As I expected, he is among many in the dungeon, underneath the ground. I see a small door on the side of the building, apart from the main door of the castle. I open it eagerly to find that it indeed does lead underground. This is way too easy…

As I prepare to take my first step into the small door, I feel someone grab my arm.

Shit.

My invisibility fades away as quickly as a dry forest on fire…

"I had a feeling that there was someone here… and a mage…" I turn my head slightly so I could look at my attacker, definitely a male. "Just who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I…" That's all I'm able to say… I can't speak anymore…

"You're coming with me." He says, tying my hands together like slave and pulling me into the main door of the castle…

I'm dead for sure.


	4. Chapter 3

_Upon entering the town of Deva, I noticed someone that looked familiar. He was crying in a corner of the town square._

_"Teru!" I yelled, getting the attention of the short brunette boy that I knew. "What happened?" _

_"They…" The short boy wiped tears from his eyes. "They…" More tears fell from his eyes, and he sobbed, unable to continue talking._

_I accompanied him for a while, trying to comfort him as he cried._

_Finally, after a while, he managed to say something._

_"They… they took her away…" He sniffled. "They'll… they'll kill her…"_

_I couldn't believe it. Why… why her? I punched a nearby wall in frustration, tears blinding by vision and judgement. However, as the wall was very sturdy, I hurt myself and yelled out in pain. I bit my lip and attempted to ignore the pain._

_"Teru." The younger boy looked at me._

_"Yeah, Kairu-san?"_

_I took a deep breath, and said something I'll never regret._

_"I promise to rescue your sister. I'll keep on trying until I die."_

_It took a while for the young boy to absorb what I just said, but after a while, he managed to say something._

_"Thank you Kairu-san." He hugged me, and I hugged him back._

_"You're welcome, Teru." I said._

I wake up, and Teru disappears in the morning light. Instead of Deva Town Square, I find myself in a room, not of my own.

Suddenly, I remember.

As prince of the town of Iris, I am here to attend a meeting. However, I was left in the dark about why I am here, probably so I don't have a biased opinion on whatever the meeting will be about. Speaking about bias…

Iris is the only kingdom that I know of that doesn't try to kill magic users. I can't kill them, and I can't be like the royals of Deva and Aria, the ones that got Frey kidnapped.

Frey…

I will rescue you…

I promise…

I'll keep on trying till I die…

The tears fall down till they reached the floor, and soon I can't do much except lie down on the bed and cry.

And I continue to cry for who knows how long, until I hear a knock on my door. I know that I can't let others see me like this… but it's really impolite to keep people waiting. I reluctantly open the door to reveal Princess Elizabeth of the town of Aria, and one of my good friends.

"Hello Kairu!" She looks at me for a while and continues talking. " I take it that the smoke been bothering your eyes, right? "She says cheerfully.

"Yeah… wait… did you say smoke?" I look out the window, eyes scanning the area for any wildfires.

"Oh, don't worry, Kairu," she says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "There are no wildfires here, like there may be in Iris. The smoke is actually coming from a rather controlled Burning." What's a 'Burning' anyways? We don't have those in Iris… wait… don't tell me…

"What do they burn at a 'Burning'?" I ask. I have to know.

"Oh, just some mages and stuff." She responds casually.

Dammit.

I locate the fire and scan it with my eyes, hoping that Frey is not among the mages. Although there is a bunch of smoke thanks to the stupid fire, I manage to (make sure?) that Frey is not among the group of mages. But… wait… one of the so-called mages… that can't be him…

Please tell me that's not who I think it is…

Please tell me that the smoke is just distorting my vision…

Please tell me…

The wind blew the smoke away from me, letting me clearly see the scene.

"Well, we're screwed"


	5. Chapter 4

"Chael? Are you …Ok?" I recollect my thoughts and turn to face Elisa. "Yeah…" I said, trying to look like the confident prince that nothing can ever shake, the prince everyone wants me to be… I assume it worked, as Elisa dropped the subject and started to pester me about being late to a meeting, how unpresentable I look, and other things I would expect my mother would say to me…

The meeting must be important, being set in one of the many rooms of Deva Castle that contains a long table. Seated at the head of the table is King Valens, the host of the meeting and the current ruler of Deva. He is also the father of one of my and Elisa's friends, a friendly prince named Haz, which is why we ended up sitting quite close to the King. At least it's not the Ruler of the Divine kingdom… they don't seem to be present at this meeting, thankful-

"Hello there, my brother, it's been quite a while since we last met. How have you been doing?" I keep my head turned away from him and pray that he will get the message. He does, and starts talking to my father instead. I mean my biological one, the king of the Divine kingdom, Temir. He will never be my true father; he died long ago… he was so nice, so supportive, while Temir and his other son, Luxferre, tried to kill me… I 'm pretty sure the only reason that they are being so nice now is because they want me to go with them to the divine realm… like that's ever going to happen…

"I thanks you all for coming here today" King Valens' voice pierced through my thoughts, drawing my eyes and attention to the head seat of the table, where he stood. "It has come to my attention that all the members of royalty here are at least 16 years of age." The sound of multiple murmurs enveloped the room and my attention was directed away from the king as fast as it was directed to him. My ear catches three distinct words from my friends.

"Parade of masks?" I ask, unfamiliar with that term.

"Yeah, it's one of the ways that royalty uses to get mates for young princes and princesses." Haz responded.

"Mates? As in marriage? They expect us to be married?" I couldn't even imagine being married, especially when Frey is dead…

"Excuse me." Even though the voice was rather soft, it ceased all conversations. My eyes searched for the speaker, and found a familiar face. He surrounded himself with a dark cloak and an aura of mystery, though his clothing choice caused his slightly ridiculous greenish-blonde hair to be rather noticeable. "I believe that we are all here for some other purpose than to chat with our comrades, right?" No response. "Good, I was hoping that we would all agree that we have more important things to talk about. Sir Valens, you may sit down." His majesty seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then slowly lowered himself onto the chair, no questions asked. "So… before I say what I came here to say, I have some rather…." He hesitates as a sliver of the emotion called uncertainty is flashed on his face. He lets out his breath and loses all signs of emotion. "less significant things to say. It is true that the prince of Deva will… be participating in the Parade of Masks. It is said that the princess of Aria will… marry the prince of Iris… Now that that's out of the way… It has been said that the era of darkness will return when the dark prince returns, and that only 6 warriors and their descendants have the power to defeat the darkness. I have come to say that you have put yourselves in a very tight position before the battle has begun, and that you have practically no chance of resisting the dark forces." The silence was deafening, and many looked at the messenger with looks of disbelief and fear as he calmly walked out of the room.


	6. Chapter 5

I lean over the balcony, face to face with the town of Deva at night. It's almost perfect; the round moon slightly illuminated the buildings, giving it a mysterious yet peaceful atmosphere. I open up my palm to examine a stray piece of paper that found its way into my hand near the end of the meeting this morning. "Meet me on the balcony after the sun sets. Bring salt." The message, though printed in neat black strokes, was one I found hard to decipher, but so was the fact that people thought that it was a good idea to make me engaged to Elisa. I suppose I do enjoy her presence, but not like that. We're just friends, really.

A few minutes have elapsed ever since the sun set, and even though I didn't see who delivered the note, I'm quite sure I know who wrote it, and that he is never late – actually, he was not late to the meeting—

I glance behind, onto the roof, and there he was. He returns the look, and promptly leaps off the roof, right next to me with a soft thud. The cloak that he wore to the meeting now fluttered behind him, dancing in the night breeze, though the mysterious aura he usually cloaks himself in has seemingly vanished.

"Got the salt?" I hand over a small wooden box containing the miniscule crystalline grains. "Follow me," he softly says, preparing to jump off the balcony to the street below. I follow his lead and find myself making contact with the floor with 2 feet, and then with the rest of my body.

After getting myself off the ground, with some help from the cloaked man, I follow him as he walks right outside the perimeter of the town, leaving a solid salt trail behind us. When the box was empty and we were where we started, there was a salt circle surrounding the entire town.

"What's the salt circle for?" I enquire.

"It's supposed to keep out demons, and by extension, monsters. We need to buy as much time as we can get to gather the heroes needed."

I count off the heroes that I haven't seen die with my own eyes, and I manage to only use one hand and still have a finger left over. I let out a sign, and hope that my companion knows what he's doing. I re-enter the castle that once gave me refuge, though now it just magnified my fear. I walk down the hall and into one of the pristine rooms reserved for participants of another ceremony designed to determine the mate of a fellow member of royalty, knowing that no one will want to come in yet, not even the participants, who will be too busy enjoying the presence of royalty.

~ Narrator Change~

I'm handed a mask.

It is a navy mask with a shiny golden trim, and resembles 2 bird wings merged together at the base. Servants fasten it to my face by means of a ribbon, and then dress me in a sky blue dress, the kind that I would have always wanted to wear as a kid, the kind with the poufy skirt that princesses wear. Like I was a princess instead of a peasant, like they were going to adopt me rather than kill me.

The servants lead me by the hand to a gigantic room that even had one of those stereotypical fancy crystal chandeliers. I am greeted by many servants, and even by some other girls wearing fancy dresses and matching masks. Right under the chandelier, in the dead center of the room, is a long haired man, arms crossed with a scowl present on his face, despite the silver crown on his head marking him as a prince. He stares right at me and promptly clears his throat while giving off a calm façade, reflected off his white-ish sky blue lavender hair.

"Welcome," he says, addressing the entire room, "You are here today because you were chosen to be a participant in the Parade of Masks. You are going to be around the royalty for one month, and at the end of the month, the prince of Deva will choose one of you to be his wife. You are required to wear your mask when you are in the presence of royalty, and you will meet here at the end of the day. Food, rooms, and clothes will be provided, and many other things may be requested. The rooms are located right across the hall. Good luck to all." The prince paces towards the door, not looking back, when the realization hits me.

I'm not going to be executed anytime soon. Instead, I'm required to wear a stupid mask when the annoying royalty appear, and they will appear very, very often. I might end up married to a person I barely know, and I'm only 15, and they killed my father, and they are the most annoying—

I feel a tap on my shoulder, and turn around to meet a white dress. Well, a tall platinum blonde wearing a long, elegant white dress with a white hood that had an angelic wing where each of her ears would be. Her face was obscured with a simple yet elegant white mask with a golden trim.

"Are you okay?" she asks quietly. I nod, and realize that I have been (clenching) my fists. I open them to discover 4 small blood red crescents in the palm of my hand. I wince, while the woman in white carefully cups her hands around mines and leads me down the hall into a rather large bedroom with a window and 2 beds. She gestures for me to sit down, and then puts herself next to me. She put her hands above mines, lips moving rapidly yet not making any audible sound. Suddenly, a white glow surrounds our hands and I feel my wounds healing; the result of healing magic. Not just regular healing magic, but advanced magic. I stare at the woman as she looked down shyly.

"Who- who are you?" The words tumble out of my mouth before I realize it.

"Frey," being the sole word that she mutters; just then, there was a thud, and there was a blond prince on the floor staring at her with a gaping mouth.

"Kai—Chael? Is it really you?"


End file.
